The Phoenix Suns have named former player and veteran NBA executive Lance Blanks the club’s general manager, the team announced today.

“After a thorough search, we believe we have found the perfect choice to serve as our general manager,” said Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby. “Lance Blanks is a first-rate talent evaluator, basketball executive and person. We are thrilled that he will be joining the Phoenix Suns.”

An experienced and successful talent evaluator, Blanks combines the high basketball IQ of a former player with a 10-year track record in the front offices of two of the league’s most successful franchises over the last decade. The 43-year-old Blanks joins the Suns after spending the last five seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers as vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager, a tenure during which the Cavs owned an overall record of 272-138 (.663).

Prior to joining the Cavaliers in 2005, Blanks spent the previous five seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, originally joining the club in 2000 as a scout. Blanks was then promoted to the role of director of scouting in September 2002. During his time in the Alamo City, the Spurs won two NBA Championships and drafted Tony Parker and Luis Scola.

Selected in the first round of the 1990 NBA Draft (26th overall) by the Detroit Pistons, Blanks spent two seasons with the Pistons and one with the Minnesota Timberwolves, appearing in 142 career NBA games. He played one season in the CBA and three in Europe where he led teams in Hungary and Cyprus to league championships. A former Texas “Mr. Basketball” as a high school standout in 1985, Blanks attended the University of Texas and led the Longhorns to the Elite Eight in the 1990 NCAA Tournament. Blanks’ 20.0-point collegiate scoring average ranks third-highest in Longhorn history.

After his playing career, Blanks worked in the scouting department of the San Antonio Spurs for five years. He will become the fifth former member of the Spurs organization to be hires as a general manager in recent years, joining Ferry, ex-Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard, Oklahoma City's Sam Presti and New Orleans GM Dell Demps.

Blanks is regarded as a promising up-and-comer among executives in the NBA. He has been mentored by Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, whom he played with in Detroit, and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford.